


Some People Are Meant To Meet

by Jus



Series: 'Round It Goes [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background fic, Luffy will not be crossed, Non-canonical queerness, Past Child Abuse, Trans Male Character, Wild children, godfather shanks is an idiot by the way, i will be taking liberties with the meetup order!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-01-03 06:04:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21174638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jus/pseuds/Jus
Summary: Some things are meant to be.Luffy and friends are; just as much as Luffy and his brothers.---Background snippets for the 'Round It Goes' series! Can be read on its own.





	1. Shanks Insists His Godsons Must Have A Playdate

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a fun thing I love to do to make sure I use all my ideas for my stories, but actually the first time I will be continually posting it. I hope you enjoy those idiots as much as I do!

“They’re babies, Shanks.”  
  
“And what of it? Can’t my two favourite godsons have a playdate?”

Garp looked at Yassop. At least the man had tried to get the redhaired idiot to listen. Why on Earth had his useless son thought a drunkard like Shanks Benn a suitable godfather for his only son, the Attorney would never know. Maybe it was because they both were pro-bono lawyers who barely made enough money to live properly and shared a positive outlook on life. He sincerely had no idea - but at least he could see for himself that Shanks was never even tipsy in Luffy’s presence, and that he took very much care of the baby. That sweet mercy was small amidst the man’s extravagance.   
Yassop didn’t look convinced by his friend’s argument, but honestly, he could only blame himself. Who on Earth actively elected the catastrophe of a man that Shanks was as a godfather? It was just preposterous -and there it was, he was repeating himself in his annoyance.

“They can just track movement. Why would you think they can become friends?” Yassop tried again.  
  
“Babies are far smarter than we think they are!”  
  
“That’s not how intelligence work, Shanks,” said his partner casually. Beckman was probably the sorriest man on this planet, at least to Garp he was. Getting enamoured with Shanks, tsk. “But I should know better than to argue with you.”

“Exactly. Look, they’re already having fun!”

The other men present had to give it to him -baby Luffy and baby Usopp seemed to be catching up like old friends, babbling and making random sounds at each other. Luffy seemed particularly interested in Usopp’s tight curls atop his head, incessantly reaching for them. Usopp on his part, was eyeing Luffy’s pirate ship plush toy, present from his worryingly doting godfather. A collective sigh was released as Shanks crouched down with his godsons and cooed at them.

Playdates continued to be set up regularly, and indeed, Luffy and Usopp ended up excellent friends. Shanks used this anecdote to lord over any other person present on that first playdate when they argued that he was wrong. (“Remember the boys’ first playdate? Who was right then, huh?”)


	2. Luffy and Usopp Meet Chopper

The two little boys looked with a frankly quite scary intensity at the child placed in front of them. Said child, to his credit, seemed quite unbothered.

“It’s a baby,” Usopp said frankly, turning to Luffy’s Gramps.

“Yes,” replied Garp with a wave of his hand. The kid was four so that wasn’t exactly true, but he had too much to do to take care of one more snotty child.  
  
“Can you talk?” asked Luffy at the newcomer.  
  
“A little,” the child said with fingers inched apart to show just how much.  
  
“You’re not a baby then!” Luffy guffawed, as was his usual, Usopp making a soft sound of agreement next to him. “What’s your name?”  
  
“I’m Chopper! I’m a little boy just like you,” Chopper said excitedly.

In the background, Garp raised his eyebrows. He had to tell Kureha and her no-good husband about that development.   
Luffy tilted his head, inciting Usopp to do as much; and they took in the long-ish hair, big doe eyes and bright cheeks. Chopper seemed suddenly uncomfortable, but Luffy laughed again after a few seconds of silence, introducing himself and his mischievous friend. The three of them tittered away into Luffy’s room where Chopper immediately ran to the pile of more or less clean clothes in the corner, insisting to change out of the striped, washed-out pink shirt on his back and white trousers.  
Admittedly, Luffy’s clothes were too large on his smaller frame, but Luffy and Usopp didn’t miss Chopper’s uncommon underwear. They both frowned, and Luffy nudged Usopp towards the desk. When it came to bad ideas, they never had to speak words out loud.

“We could cut your hair, if you want,” Luffy suggested to a newly dressed Chopper as Usopp returned with a pair of scissors in his hands.  
  
“You’d do that?!?”  
  
“Sure! Usopp is great with art stuff,” Luffy explained. “I guess you just have to sit still!”

Turned out Usopp wasn’t as great with cutting hair as he was with painting the tales about their adventures; and Chopper’s mother was furious to find her child with hair of irregular lengths chopped really close to his head, but Chopper’s dad laughed just as much as Shanks usually did.

As years passed and they all became teens, Chopper used weird, tight vests and had to inject himself some kind of medicine. Luffy didn’t get it, but it made Chopper happy, so he went along with it and so did everyone else.


	3. Sabo Stumbles Upon Ace

Ace was six, he thought.  
He barely knew how to talk, even less how to read or write. Counting was definitely out of the question.

Everyday he walked around the city and no terrain hurt his feet anymore. He could walk on concrete, on forest floor and gravelly alleys. He tried to stay away from the big streets were adults sneered at him and the smell of fresh food made his stomach hurt, though. In the smaller, dirtier alleys in the rundown districts, people weren’t more inclined to talk to him but they were nicer. He got some food or a blanket to sleep with from the kindest souls. An old lady even gave him sweets, once.  
The parks at night were empty most of the time. Several times he had hidden in the bushes or fled up the trunk of a tree to escape weird men, but in general it went without trouble so that’s where he slept when it wasn’t too cold. In winter he went back to the heart of the city when the ground wasn’t as cold, thanks to the long cars that roll under the ground. The buildings were kinda warm too, so he snuggled in his ratty blanket, curled up in a ball and leaning against a corner to keep the heat in.

That’s how he met Sabo.   
The kid just ran out of the fancy building Ace was using the porch of as a mattress and nearly tripped over him. Ace blinked awake, ready to flee down the street at the first sign of trouble. Despite his malnourishment and the cough that more often than not rattled his lungs, he was surprisingly fast. The kid just stood there and Ace took to glaring his best glare, the one he thought resembled the man he knew was his father. That was the only thing he remembered about the home for orphaned children -the name of his father, and the news report about the crimes and the horror and the picture of the man, grinning at his trial.  
To his credit, the other boy didn’t flinch. He just blinked back, and Ace noticed the blooming bruise on his cheekbone. Well, big deal, even in the rich houses children got beaten around. It’s not like that would sway his heart -he’d seen much worse around town and even on himself. Still, a feeling of unease churned his stomach.

“Are you a runaway?” the kid blurted out and broke Ace from his observations.

“Wass it?” mumbled Ace with the wariness of a squirrel.  
  
“When you go away from home.” Ace nodded. It hadn’t been a place he ever called home, but he did leave. The kid seemed impressed by the answer, and got around to ask, “Can I join you?”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I don’t like mine.”  
  
“Looks okay,” Ace grumbled and made a show to look up at the building’s facade.  
  
“Not okay,” the kid replied and pointed at his face. In doing so, his sleeve slid down and revealed another bruise around his wrist. His eyes were starting to water up -probably in pain. “So, can I join? Just to learn.”   


Ace grumbled, and noticed the kid had a bag with him and a blanket under his arm. Well, maybe he would have other ideas to pass the winter, and he kinda missed the presence of other kids around him. Someone to talk to would be nice, as well. Adults never talked to him, even the ones who were runaways like him.   
He stood up and nodded at the kid. He was granted a beam for his trouble.

The walk around town took a good hour. The kid seemed anxious to get away from the adults who had left the blooming bruises on his pale skin, and Ace understood as much. He kept observing the kid, well-dressed yet not much plumper than he was himself. Who got such nice clothes for their son but didn’t manage to feed him properly? He had lots of questions, and no way to articulate them. Finally they settled under a very similar entrance porch, feet aching and finger cold from holding onto their belongings. Ace had to say he was a little bit impressed. He thought the other boy would’ve at least once complained about something by then, but nothing had been said between them. The unnamed boy only wore an air of determination under his head of blond hair.   
Once Ace settled, he watched carefully and mimicked him easily enough. They stared at each other, the novelty of being outside for one and of having actual company for the other prevailing on the drowsiness brought by the advanced hour. Finally, Blond Stranger talked.

“My name’s Sabo. What’s yours?”  
  
“Ace.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is for this week! I hope you will enjoy them.


	4. Luffy Crashes The Brotherhood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for how late everything is. School really is being hard to follow with at the moment, but I'm pretty sure all of this will be tied up before the end of the year!
> 
> In the meantime, enjoy! I'll be posting part 5 of this on time next week.

The park before the motorway became their favourite place to be. There were hills and a little cluster of a wood, and the landfill that lay on the other side of the motorway was filled with materials they could use to build a treehouse. So they did, awkwardly and as fast as two kids of eight were able to.   
It was nice to sleep in, and Sabo finally had a space where he could teach Ace the rudiments of reading and writing. Ace didn’t like it, but he always got jealous of how much fun Sabo was having when they ended up at the public library; so he applied himself. It was only a matter of a month and a half until he read on his own- Sabo said he was super smart.  
The only times they had to leave their new home was when thunder rumbled above in the skies, threatening both in looks and sounds. Sabo had read somewhere that lightning could strike trees, and he’d rather not die, thank you very much; so he dragged Ace away and into a fake cave near the fake pond. It was cold and damp, but they sure wouldn't die in there.

Days passed, winter became spring and then blossomed into early summer. It was hot that year, and Ace was glad he had someone else to help lift off icepops and paletas around town. Their treehouse helped a lot, the shade cool and the wind forever present amongst the branches. It helped until a very distracted kid noticed it one day, and right in the middle of their nap, too.

"Grandpa! There's a house in the tree!"

"Sure there is, Luffy," a gruff voice answered, but in the tone of an adult that never looks and doesn't care enough to do so. Sabo heard Ace mirroring his own sigh of relief.   
“But loook!I It’s right there!!”

Ace looked ready to climb down and swing his fists about, but the volume of the whiny voice soon decreased into silence, as the child was probably tugged away by their grandfather. Ace and Sabo went back to their business (sleeping!) without much more of a thought spared for the child.   
They should’ve prepared. They should’ve put up defenses of some sort. But how could they have known? That Luffy child was imprevisible, just as Ace’s mood swings or Sabo’s random knowledge.  
There was no why or how. They just found a little boy crouching in the middle of their living room (“It’s the only room, Sabo, of course it’s a living room. It’s where we do everything.”) and toying with their stolen copy of the previous day’s newspaper. Ace looked like he was gonna enter in a raging fury, but Sabo, while clearly annoyed, seemed curious. There was a big hole in one of their already flimsy walls, and most of their stuff was broken or seriously deteriorated.

“Who are you?” Ace bellowed from his 8 years of authority, seeing as the boy was clearly younger. “Why did you break our stuff?”

“Hi, I’m Luffy and I wanna be a pirate! The king of them!” He completely ignored the second question and Ace started screaming profanities. Sabo tried to mutter about how pirates have never had kings, but he’s promptly ignored as well, the kid beaming a toothy smile, too large for his young face. “You guys look so cool! I wanna be your brother, I don’t have brothers, will you be my brothers?”

Ace threw him off the tree house.  
  


* * *

  
Luffy was resilient, if nothing else. He came back everyday. He hid from his different caretakers (rough-looking bunch of hooligans, old scary woman, pretty kind woman) and even worked to replace the items he had broken once he was told why they were so important to the older boys.   
The summer went perfectly well. They even started liking the boy, then stopped resenting him for his eccentricity and the trouble he regularly brought upon their little group. September pointed the tip of its nose, but Luffy was still coming back to them every morning. Sabo was suspicious, remembering clearly the dates of going back to school. But Luffy only shrugged when asked about his education, so he didn’t press. Once again, he should’ve, because what regular family didn’t send their child to school nowadays? Or at least homeschooled them? But he let it slide, because Luffy seemed so happy around them, and called them brothers, and even Ace was caring and attentionate with the little hellion.

Until one rainy afternoon, where Luffy’s grandpa stormed the park with very buff angry adults with  _ guns _ , and Sabo didn’t understand a minute of what actually happened, so that was to say serious chaos ensued.   
They ended up with infinite amounts of hot chocolate and covered in blankets, in a really fancy house outside of town. Ace looked ready to sprint out, and Sabo himself didn’t feel comfortable at all. At least the inside of the house wasn’t ostentatiously decorated like his biological family’s had been. It was actually rather tasteful, for someone who was related to Luffy by blood. Said Luffy was getting lectured by the man that was definitely his father, his grandfather steaming with anger behind him. All in all, the father seemed quite nice, never raised his voice or his hand. He looked bored.

“You have to go to school, Luffy. It’s important.”

“Son! You’re not being authoritative enough! This little scoundrel needs to under-”

“He’s young, he only wants to play. It’s normal.”

“I wanted to see the tree house,” Luffy interjects, a big pout on his face. “And then Ace and Sabo were there and they’re my brothers and I don’t wanna be here if they’re having fun in the park. They don’t have to go to school!”

Sabo looked down at his chocolate to avoid crossing eyes with an adult. Ace was tensed up right next to him, and he just knew he was glaring as defiantly as possible at the gathered company.

“We didn’t realise Luffy had duties, Sir,” Sabo muttered before the ticking bomb of profanities that was Ace could go off. “We’re sorry. May we go now?”

“You didn’t-!!”

“You may not,” Luffy’s dad cut his own father off, ignoring the blubbering of anger from the older man. “You’re very polite for such an unkempt child. What is your name, son?”

“Sabo,” he said automatically, just before Ace elbowed him. Shit.

“Hmm, as I thought. Very well. I’ll make sure to notify your family-”

“No!!” Ace jumped down the couch to put himself in front of Sabo. Luffy looked genuinely interested in what was happening -the most attentive Sabo had ever seen him, in fact. “You’re not taking him away!”

“His family needs to know where he is, young man. And so does yours.”

“I don’t have one,” Ace spat. “And his family never looked for him! He was hurt when we met!”

Silence fell upon the room, the adults stunned for the first time. The two men exchanged looks that seemed very important, and silence took more and more space until Luffy piped up.

“Dad, Grandpa, can Ace and Sabo be my real brothers?”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Grandpa replied. “But you boys have to behave, be clean, and go to school. Understood?”

“Yessir,” Sabo readily agreed, bowing and pushing Ace’s head down as well in sign of respect. Worst of it, they could leg it as they had done up until then.

Ace and Sabo never legged it, and the Monkeys did a lot.


	5. Little Head Of Black Hair

Sabo, from all of his nine years of age, tried not to stare too much at the sight in front of him. Luffy was scruffed up beyond belief and his familiar straw hat pulled back, was holding onto another boy’s hand, beaming as usual.

It was useless to call out Ace, even with the three months he had on him. Maybe their eldest brother was already ten, but he doubted that would be of any help right now. Instead Sabo frowned a little and asked loudly as he avoided to fixate on the suspicious mop of green hair, “Who is this?”

* * *

Zoro was not a loner. Definitely  _ not _ . The proof would be that he allowed his annoying, screeching little sister to exist in his vicinity unharmed. But he did prefer being on his own, his focus unwavering and undisturbed. It reassured him somewhat that his father was much the same, even though they shared no genetics at all; at least as much as Zoro was aware of. He appreciated the man’s guidance and his strictness in most parts of life, not realising that very few children would think in such ways about their guardians.   
Zoro’s parents died when he was young. He didn’t remember them that well, and therefore never mourned their loss. He was told several times over what happened to them, but except the annual visit to their grave, he didn’t really bother with the whole affair. His uncle had immediately taken him in, as he was only a couple of years younger than his own daughter Kuina. He introduced them both to martial arts. The children had learnt how to hold a shinai before they could read and Zoro’s favourite phrases had been taekwondo directions. However, his uncle was a busy widower, and in between his job and Zoro’s cousin personal training that he had undertaken, Zoro had to leave sooner than later.   
His new guardian was a friend of his uncle, another martial arts teacher and familiar face that Zoro knew and appreciated already. As much as one could  _ like _ Mihawk, that is; but the man wasn’t bad and Zoro knew he could’ve landed on much worse. He heard the news of badly treated children regularly enough. It was difficult to acclimate to another house, another family, but he was happy with his lot. At least, he didn’t have anything to complain about - he was just over five, and Mihawk also had a daughter. After a few months, he had even taken to them enough to call them Dad and sister in his mind, and aren’t children adaptable, had said the social worker in charge of his case. He had heard her without wanting too and a warm feeling blossomed in his chest. He had kept on pretending to play tea time for Perona’s good mood and his own sanity (she could screech until his ears rang, he knew that much).   
He often saw Kuina, and they challenged each other each time, growing into their shinais and their bodies developing strong and sturdy. He had a perfectly happy childhood. Until the accident.

They were seven and nine, respectively. Zoro shouldn’t have been running up the stone stairs in the dojo, he knew that much, but the thrill of the race and the ringing laughter, it all seemed so much fun. And he was winning that at least -losing to Kuina time and time again was getting old after the fifth match. But he heard the tumble and the crack and paused. His best friend’s awkwardly angled body at the bottom of the stairs would forever haunt his dreams.   
He never cried, too busy blaming himself and hating fate from taking people away from him. His uncle never recovered from the loss and would’ve withered away if Zoro hadn’t pushed to be trained to be the best kendo practitioner; and then only cared about his training. Mihawk never berated him for it. Another thing he really liked about his father, as he discovered quite quickly, was that he allowed complete freedom on his children’s interests and expression. He had never thought to ask, but his sister’s hair was the only thing he could think of that could put him closer to his dead cousin. So he asked about the sickly pink colouring of Perona’s pigtails.

“Father said yes to herb colour!” she exclaimed in her sweet voice. At that time, she wasn’t yet so antagonistic with him. They learned to love each other the way siblings often did -badly- after some time, but they loved each other nonetheless.

And so Zoro asked about green. It took a few weeks to find the perfect dye, from natural ingredients and safe to use for children; and some more weeks to work through enough chores that he could earn to buy it (never would it be said that Dracule Mihawk wasn’t one to responsibilize his children from the most tender age). Finally, finally, Zoro got green hair.   
It had been Kuina’s favourite colour.

* * *

Earlier that day on the playground, Zoro had seen a black head of hair on a body a little smaller than his and frail -so very frail- being pushed around by older boys. The stairs leading down from the school’s entrance were inches away.   
His blood had boiled and he had yanked the child to safety, beating away the bullies with his shinai. An exclamation coloured with surprise tugged him back to the present.

“What do you mean, he helped you?”

“We saved me and then I saved him,” the boy whose name was Luffy corrected, his grin so big it threatened to tear his face apart.

“His hair is  _ green _ ,” an other older boy exclaimed, barely managing the syllables around his ramen noodles.

“I know!! Isn’t it the best? Zoro’s my best friend.”

“No I’m not,” said the concerned boy with a slight frown. He was immediately faced with a pouty Luffy and flinched a little. “I barely know you!”

“But you’re so cool… I want you as a best friend.”

He tried to shake the blurry memories of his cousin saying approximately the same words in between shouts of big dreams and hope. Slight embarrassment coloured his cheeks, and he tried not to pay attention to the snickers of the two older boys.

“You know, if Luffy sets his mind to it, he won’t back down. You’re doomed to be his best friend,” explained the blond brother sagely. Zoro had trouble believing they were all brothers, given the difference in temperaments. But then again, he and Perona were siblings too, and they couldn’t be more opposed if they tried. Family didn’t mean blood relations.

“Yeah,” added dark-haired in a slurp that flicked broth all around. Gross. “He did that to us.”

“Isn't he your brother,” Zoro pointed out -this kid and Luffy looked similar enough to be actual brothers... Was everyone insane here? Only shrugs answered him.

“Anyway! Zoro was so cool! He used a branch to kick the bullies’ butts and I got to punch Big Morgan because he sneaked on him!”

No one corrected Luffy on his conjugation, but Zoro did angrily point out that “it’s called a shinai, it’s not a branch”. That was one way to recount their meeting alright. Zoro couldn’t help the swelling of pride in his chest as the older boys both looked appraisingly at him, conveying a sentiment of thanks. Thanks for looking after our dumbass little brother.  
If Zoro waited in front of the school gates the next day to walk Luffy home with his sister, that was his own decision, and it was not at all influenced by the possibility to see Luffy smile again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


End file.
